Emile Lahoud Jr says Maher Assad safe

The son of former Lebanese president Emile Lahoud, Emile Lahoud Jr said in an interview to local press on Wednesday that he had personally met the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher, who rumours say was killed. Maher Assad, the commander of the fourth brigade in the Syrian army, reportedly met Emile Jr over the past week. "He is good and healthy and does want to appear in the media for security reasons. I saw Maher with my own eyes and he is fine," said Emile Jr. Lahoud said the chaos currentlty gripping Lebanon's north was the result of  a“self-distancing " policy adopted by the government. "Does this policy include internal Lebanese circumstance?" he asked. He criticised the government's handling of the current security situation, adding that the fundamental flaw lay in some authorities responsible for national security since 2005. Emile Jr said the officials "dealt wrongly with [former president Rafiq] Hariri’s political foes, especially in the case of the detention of former security chiefs for nearly 4 years, without any legal justification". The politician and businessman said it was essential to cotnrol the proliferation of arms across Lebanon, also calling for the closure of the "Information Branch" and handing over security to reliable services with qualified officers. He denounced accusations by some Lebanese parties that the Syrian leadership was targeting Lebanese stability, saying: "Does Syria have the time to be engaged in Lebanese affairs?" As for the arrest of former information minister Michel Samaha on suspicions of being involved in a terror plot, Lahoud said informer Milad Kafoury deliberately tried to "entrap" Samaha. "The main objective of arresting Samaha is to subject him to a media trial. I am sorry that President Michel Suleiman took a position on the issue before any judicial conviction was made against Samaha," he said. He also said the Syrian crisis would end when the United States took a leadng role in controlling the situation on the ground along with the Syrian army, BRICS countries and Iran.